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THE 



Inner Mystery. 



In 3iisBimiioH£iI B 



mm. 



BY 



"LIZZIE DOTEN. 




/^ BOSTON: 
ADAMS AND COMPANY, 

25 Bromfield Street. 
1868. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

ELIZABETH DOTEN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



STEnEOTypED BY C. J. Teters & SoN, 5 Washington St., Boston. 



This Poem was delivered by Miss Lizzie Dotem, at a Festival commemorative 
of the twentieth anniversary of the advent of Modern Spiritualism, held in Music 
Hall, Boston, March 31, 1S68. 

Reported by H. F. Gardner, M.D. 




THE INNER MYSTERY. 



^^©^o 



In the valley, 
Where the darkness dropped its poisonous 
vapors on my head ; 
Where the night-winds 
Moaned and murmured, like the voices of 
the troubled dead, — 
Groping, stumbling, weary, and alone, 
Did I make the earth my bed; 
And my pillow was a stone. 



Oh that slumber ! It was long and dark 
and deep; 
Till a voice cried, "Come up hither!" 
(And I started from my sleep.) 
"Whither?" cried I. 
And it answered, " Come up hither ! for the 
day is dawning: 
Through the gates of amethyst and 
amber 
Shines the kindling glory of the morning." 



Then I looked, and saw the blest assur- 
ance of the coming day. 
Hopeful-hearted, 

O'er the mountain-path I took my upward 
way. 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 



'Mid the slumbering pines I heard Life's 
drowsy pulses start, 
Swinging, singing, 

Making mournful music; 
Thrilling, jEilling 
All the lonely places of my heart. 

Then the embers of the morning, 
Smouldering on night's funeral-pyre. 

Kindling into sudden brightness, 
Lit the mountain-peaks with fire ; 

And the quickened heart of Nature 
Thrilled responsive from her Memnon lyre. 
Eager, earnest, still ascending 

Toward the glory of the perfect day, 
I could hear that voice my steps attending. 
With the matin-hymn of Nature blending. 



lO THE INNER MYSTERY. 

Ever crying, " Come up hither ! come up 
hither!" 
And I followed in the way. 

Bright the sky glowed 
With celestial splendor, 
Like the light of love from God's own 
eyes ; 

And the lofty mountains 
Seemed to tender 
Back their crowns of glory to the loftier 
skies. 

Far above me, 
In the heights so terrible and grand, 
I could see the glaciers gleaming 
In the hollow of the mountain's hand. 



THE INNER MYSTERY. II 

Flashing, dashing, 
From the steeps the foaming cataract 
poured 

Over pathways 
Which the mighty avalanche had scored; 
Dim and ghostly 
Rose the clouds of wreathed spray, 

Rainbow-mantled, 
Vanishing in air away. 
Elfin shadows 
O'er my pathway leapt and played, 
As the pines their murmuring branches 
swayed. 
All the air seemed filled with voices 
Which I ne'er had thought to hear again ; 
And I fled, to leave behind me 




Sound of pleasure close allied to pain: 
Upward, onward, did I speed my way, 
Nearer to the perfect source of day. 
Awed by beauty and by terror, 

Tearful, prayerful, did I sink, 
Where the tender, blue-eyed gentian 

Bloomed upon the glacier's brink. 
" Save me ! save me ! O thou loving 
Lord!" I cried, 
" From the unforeseen intrusion 
Of this sad, but sweet delusion, — 
From this cruel semblance to the love 
that long since died." 
" Come up hither ! " 
Cried my unknown guide who went 
before ; 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 1 3 

And I followed in the way once 
more, — 
Onward, upward, where the tempests gath- 
ered ; 
Where the lightnings crouched within 
their secret lair; 
Where the mighty God of thunder 
With his hammer smote the shuddering 
air; 
Where the tall cliffs, battle-splintered, 
Reared their lofty summits bleak and 
bare ; 
Higher yet, where all my life-tide 
With the breath of heaven grew chill ; 
And I felt my pulses quickened 
With a strange, electric thrill. 



14 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

Not one blossom brightened in my path- 
way, 
Not one lichen dared that wintry 
breath ; 
But above me and around me 

Brooded awful silence as of death : 
And I walked where ragged precipices, 
Overhanging wild abysses, 
Frowned upon the dizzy depths below; 
Where the yawning chasms. 
Rent by earthquake spasms. 
Strove to fill their hungry throats with 

snow. 
Burdened with a sense of solemn gran- 
deur, 
Reverent and adoringly I trod 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 15 

'Mid those awful and majestic altars 
Of the Unknown God. 

Musing deeply, 
As I turned an angle of the rocky wall, 

Lo ! before me 
Stood a figure, ghostly, gaunt, and tall; 
Like the famous fabled image, falling 

From Dardanian skies : 
Wrapped in white, marmoreal silence. 
Did he greet my wondering eyes. 
Straight upon the narrow pathway. 

Fixed as fate he seemed to stand. 
With a widely yawning chasm, 

And a wall of rock on either 
hand. 



1 6 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

" Come up hither ! come up hither ! " 
Cried the voice that went before; 
And my spirit leapt impatient 
To obey the call once more. 
" Let me pass, I pray thee," 
Said I in a calm and courteous tone; 

But he only gazed upon me 
With a face as fixed and passionless as 

stone. 
" Prithee, stand aside ! " I said more firmly ; 

" For I may not stay : 
I must reach the mountain-heights above 
me 

Ere the close of day." 
But he stirred not, spoke not, breathed 
not; 





" 


THE INNER MYSTERY. I? 




Only turned his cold and stony eyes 




Downward — to the yawning chasm : 




Upward — to the distant skies. 




"Wherefore," said I, 




With a slowly-kindling wrath, 




" Do you seek to stay my prog- 




ress, — 




Do you stand across my path ? 




What have I to do with thee, 




Or thou with me ? 




Stand aside; or, prithee. 




Which is strongest we shall shortly 




see." 




Like a statue did he stand immovable, — 




the same. 






^ 



i8 


THE INNER MYSTERY. 






Then my wrath waxed hotter, 






" Demon ! speak thy 


name. 




And 


tell thine errand ! " 
ringing shout ; 


cried I 


with a 


And his cold lips parted, 


as he answered. 




" I am Doubt. 








Go no farther, 






For 


it is a phantom that 


hath lured thee 




on thy way : 








Upward striving 






Will 


not bring thee nearer to the 


perfect 




source of day. 








In the valley, 






All 


is warmth and rest and kindly 


cheer : 


. 


Go no farther, — 


- 




It is lojie and very cold 


up here. 





THE INNER MYSTERY. 



19 



Trust to prudence and to reason 
All your aspirations to control: 

Man grows ripe before the season 
When he listens to the promptings of 
the soul." 

"Come up hither! come up hither!" 
Cried the sweet and tuneful voice again : 
" Doubt should never counsel Duty when 
the way of truth is plain." 



"Stay!" replied the watchful demon; 
" Thou shall lend a listening ear to 
Doubt; 

For, by Heaven ! thou shalt not pass me 
Until thou hast heard me out. 



Thou art cursed from the beginning; 
All your nature is corrupt with sinning; 
God refuses you his gifts of grace to- 
day; 
Christ alone his righteous wrath can stay. 

All your prayerful aspiration 
- But retards your soul's salvation, 
All the efforts of your godless will 
Make your deep damnation deeper still. 

O thou self-deluded dreamer! 

O thou transcendental schemer! 

Leave your idle speculations, 

Trances, visions, exaltations, 
And your toilsome upward progress stay. 

By your fallen, lost condition, 

By the depths of your perdition, 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 21 



I have promised, 
Yea, have sworn, to turn you backward 



"Come up hither! come up hither!" 
Cried the voice persuasive from above. 

Then I looked ; and, bending o'er me, 
I beheld my long-lost angel-love. 

" Back ! " I shouted to the demon. 
" Never," in a measured tone he said, 

" Till the final resurrection, — 
Till the earth and sea give up their dead." 

Then I smote him, — 
Smote him in the forehead and the eyes; 



22 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

And I shouted, 
" I will not be cozened with your lies ! 

Go to brainless cowards 
With your Hebrew husks and pious pelf; 

For MY SOUL IS OLDER THAN THE TRUTH, 

ONE WITH GOD HIMSELF." 

Then my blows fell faster, fiercer, harder, 

hotter. 
Till he yielded like the vessel of a potter 
And I crashed into his brainless skull 
Smote his stony eyes out, cold and dull 
Into shards amorphous dashed his lips 

profane ; 
And, as brittle as a bubble, clove his 
shattered trunk in twain. 





THE INNER MYSTERY. 23 


Then, as if God's millstones surely 


Had been given me in trust, 


On the rock I stood securely. 


And those scattered fragments ground to 


, dust= 

\ 


But, God ! what wondrous transformation 


Seized me in its mighty grasp of 


power, 


As a bud, by Nature's potent magic. 


Bursts at once into a perfect flower! 


Like the record of a wise historian, 


Lay unsealed the wondrous Book of 


Life , 


Swelling grandly, like a chant Gregorian, 


Perfect unison arose from strife: 

\ 


\ 



24 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

And I knew then that. this grim, defiant elf, 
That this clay-born image, was my weaker 

self; 
That this demon Doubt, with which I 

held such strife, 
Was the sense's logic, — the phenomena 

of life ; 
And, as Perseus slew the Gorgon, 

Must this mocking fiend be siain, 
That transfixed in stony silence 

Faith and hope might not xmain. 
Only when the soul asserted 

What the flesh and sense concealed, — 
God within. One with the Human, — 
Did the Inner Mystery stand re- 
vealed. 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 25 

Oh, what glorious consummation to my 

strife ! 
Death of Death ! and Life unto Eternal 

Life ! 
All around, the grand and awful moun- 
tains 
Hushed in silent reverence seemed to 
stand. 

White and shining. 
Like the pearly portals of the better land. 
Then I heard the angels singing, 
Soft and clear the sweet notes ringing, 
Dropping gently, like a golden rain, 

From the treasured wealth of day; 
And I caught these words of blessing 

Floating down the heavenly way : — 



26 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

" Oh ! what is the life of the soul 
But the life of the Infinite Whole? 

For God and his creatures are One, 
As the tide from the ocean of light, 
Which sets through the day and the night. 

Is the same in the star-beam or sun. 

" He hath laid out the sea and the land ; 
He hath balanced the heavens in his hand; 

And the Earth, in that order sublime, 
How greatly and grandly she rolls. 
And casts off her harvests of souls, 

In the boundless fruition of Time ! 

" We ask not his face to behold ; 
Of his glory we need not be told ; 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 2/ 

For the Word of his witness is near. 
His Life is the Infinite Light, 
Which quickens our bhndness to sight ; 

And he speaks that his children may 
hear. 

" He suffers and sins with them all ; 
He stands, or he falls when they fall ; 

For he is both substance and breath. 
Their strength from his greatness they 

draw; 
His wisdom and will are their law; 

And he is their Saviour in death. 

" When the depths of all hearts are un- 
sealed 



28 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

Shall the word of his truth be revealed, 

That MAN is by nature divine ; 
And faith in Gods presence within 
Shall strengthen the spirit to win 

A peace which no tongue can define." 



Then the music floated upward, 

Where the light of parting day, 

With its gold and crimson glory, 
On the mountain summits lay ; 

And it left me longing, praying, 

And with quickened steps essaying 
Swift the nearest heights to gain. 

That my captivated being 

Misht unto a clearer seeina: 



Of those fading forms attain. 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 29 



And ere long, with hands uphfted, 

Kneehng on the mountain high, 
Out into the Hstening silence 

Did I send my pleading cry: — 
" O thou beauteous land of Beulah, 

Just beyond my longing sight! 
O ye bright ones, loved and lovely, 

Dwelling in celestial light! 
Leave, oh ! leave me not behind you 
* With the darkness and the night ! " 
In the sunshine and the shadow, 

Then I saw an open door; 
And a voice cried, "Come up hither! 

Life is yours forevermore." 
Gales of Araby around me 

Seemed to wave their fragrant wings; 



30 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

Strains of music, low and tender, 

Thrilled along celestial strings. 
Like a spotless lily, blending 

Matchless bloom and breath divine, 
Did my lost one, long lamented, 

Lay her soft white hand in mine; 
And uplifted. 
Strangely gifted. 
With a power unknown before, 
Did my love and I together enter at the 
open door. 



Lo! again those bright immortals, as their 
fadeless flowers they wreath. 
Words of greeting 
Oft repeating, 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 3 1 

Celebrate this festive eve. 
Listen to their tuneful message for the* 
hearts that joy or grieve: — 

" Truth's heralds bright, 

With feet of light, 
Upon Life's mountains stand; 

Sent to proclaim. 

In God's high name, 
Glad tidings to the land. 

With smiles of love 

They wait above. 
And ' Come up hither ! ' cry. 

When souls shall climb 

Life's heights sublime, 
Then . Death itself shall die. 



32 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

"The little child, 
' Whose bright eyes smiled, 

Whom angel-hands upbore, 
The good, the kind. 
The pure in mind, 

Glide through Life's open door. 
With voices sweet, 
Their lips repeat 

The chorus of the sky : — 
' All souls shall be 
From doubt made free, 

And Death itself shall die.' 

"Joy crowns with flowers 
Life's summer-hours, 
When storms of sorrow cease; 



THE INNER MYSTERY. 33 

And winter-snows, 

And calm repose, 
Bring thoughts of holy peace. 

Thus pales or burns 

Life's star by turns. 
As swift the moments fly; 

But winter's blight, 

And sorrow's night. 
And Death itself, shall die. 

" From Death's abyss 

To heights of bliss 
Must souls immortal strive; 

While loss and gain. 

And peace and pain. 
Shall keep their faith alive. 



34 THE INNER MYSTERY. 

But higher still, 
With tireless will, 

Their course shall upward lie, 
Till palms shall wave 
Above the grave. 

And Death itself shall die." 




